Brighton & Hove Methodist Circuit's sponsored Journey4Sanctuary

launched successfully on Saturday May 18th 2024 and our community continue to begin and complete their journeys by Sunday June 23rd, the final day of Refugee Week. We are fundraising for 6 charities who support & welcome asylum seekers and refugees to Brighton & Hove:

● Care4Calais Brighton

● The Jollof Cafe (Sussex Refugee & Migrant Self Support Group).

● The Network of International Women, Brighton & Hove

● Sanctuary on Sea

● Thousand for Thousand (T4K)

● Voices in Exile

We have a communal £800 target. After Refugee Week 2024, Brighton & Hove Methodist Circuit Refugee Project will donate one sixth of the total amount raised, to each Refugee charity listed above.

Our sponsored Journey is inclusive, so our community can go as near or far as they wish, around our Circuit of 5 churches in Brighton & Hove. They can take any route and depending on mobility, they can walk, bike, bus, use a mobility aid. Some people might journey around their own church sanctuary. Others might journey between a couple of churches. Others might journey (in any order) between all 5 churches, a journey of approximately 12.5 miles. We are collecting our community’s mileage so we can totalise it.

Saturday 18th May was the launch date, when all our amazing refreshments volunteers at all 5 churches opened up with a warm welcome. Those of us who journeyed have never seen or eaten so much cake in our lives! We had a hardy troop of walkers from beautiful green Woodingdean to central Brighton and some of them continued on to the Peace Statue on Hove Seafront and then the vast array of cake kindly shared by Martlets Hospice concert goers at Hove Methodist Church. Charity workers from the Network of International Women and from Voices in Exile joined part of our walk. Several of our members over 70 travelled to all 5 Methodist churches in Brighton and Hove on May 18th, by various means of transport. Nick walked the 12.2 miles, Jonathan cycled on his electric bike and Alan and Paul's route by bus took them 21.3 miles each! Rev Kathleen journeyed 12.1 miles on foot and by bus to 3 of our churches. Thank you everyone for such a great launch day.

On Sunday 19th May, congregations across Brighton & Hove Methodist Circuit joined in the fun and upped our communal mileage by doing laps of our church sanctuaries to the joyful sound of 'Walking in the Light of God'. From the under 5's at Patcham's All Age Worship, to several of our hardy over 90's, everyone got involved. Thank you all!

On Friday 24th May, our children and families at Messy Church, Hove Methodist Church, did laps of our church sanctuary, with a communal total of 1.5 miles! Well done everyone!

Our Circuit's Communal Mileage total currently stands at 184 miles, but journeys can still be started / completed by Refugee Week 17 - 23 June 2024.

So keep journeying and keep sharing & donating!!

Any questions, please email: bhmethodistproject@gmail.com

Here's more detail about the 6 Brighton & Hove charities we are fundraising for.

The charities liaise with each other on a day to day basis via the Brighton & Hove Refugee & Migrant Forum, chaired by Sanctuary on Sea and including representatives from Brighton & Hove City Council and our local NHS trust. The charities include some trustees &/or volunteers/refugee employees with lived experience of seeking Sanctuary, who are offering, sharing and building their skills while contributing to our local community. Each charity also runs or attends special events for Refugee Week each year.

We encourage you to visit the 6 charity websites to see their range of activities and support, such as:

Care4Calais Brighton:

Generally younger volunteers, including university students, who raise awareness about Sanctuary and have strong links to Sanctuary seekers housed in local hotels. We regularly donate clothes and toiletries via Care4Calais Brighton.

Jollof Cafe (Sussex Refugee & Migrant Self Support Group):

A weekly Brighton community cafe run by Sanctuary seekers. Everyone is welcome for international food created with love. Occasional Friday evening events at Dorset Gardens MC are a sell-out. Find Jollof Cafe on Facebook, rather than a website.

The Network of International Women, Brighton & Hove (NiW):

Any woman who considers themselves to be international can join. They offer so much support we don't know how they fit it in each week! They run Art, craft & sewing groups, outdoor ecotherapy & city walks, food of the world cooking groups & catering, as well as doing outreach and casework. NiW offer Friday Sanctuary meetings for sanctuary seekers living in local hotels and a Saturday meeting for our Ukrainian community. We regularly drop clothes and toiletries to Friday Sanctuary afternoons.

Sanctuary on Sea:

The Brighton & Hove branch of the national City of Sanctuary movement, founded by a Methodist Minister Rev Dr Inderjit Bhogal, OBE. City of Sanctuary and it's local branches advocate for & run awareness raising events about Sanctuary. It very effectively links up grass roots organisations, charities, schools, libraries, Arts organisations, faith groups and local Councils, all looking to support Sanctuary Seekers & raise awareness, both locally and nationally.

Thousand 4 £1000 (T4K):

A Brighton charity for refugees, offering specialist support and advice about housing.

Voices in Exile:

Offer specialist advice work to Sanctuary seekers. They also run weekly support groups. Voices in Exile have a Food bank too, which Patcham and Dorset Gardens Methodist Churches regularly donate to.

We look forward to some of the charities we support joining us along our Journey4Sanctuary. We will add photos to our social media pages and our webpage as we go!

https://brightonhovemethodistcircuit.org.uk/supporting-refugees/